Choral Fragments -- Geoffrey O'Brien

A country where not even
Smoke has a name
.

Years on fire
.

Brilliant broken brook
.

What will they not sacrifice
To their alphabet
.

Paths lead to war,
To marriage

And away from
.

The wheel fits in its socket
.

The bees have counted us
.

The song has to end
Before it can start
.

Blind roads
Dreams of eels
.

Burnt wall
The loyalty of salamanders
.

Turbulent, shoreless
.

The horse escapes from itself
.

Where the leaping dancer
Never returns to ground
.

In the arrow's wake
The bruised air